Australian catholicism in decline

[JimC]

Interesting articleby Dick Gross: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/blogs/ ... 1bqf2.html

A new study by a Catholic ginger group has shown that as a system, Australian Catholicism is teetering on the edge of organisational oblivion.

Catholics for Ministry is one of the progressive wings of Catholicism. The Catholic Church is very broad. While it is true that those bedecked in either red or purple are notoriously conservative, there are many of an utterly different mindset. I recall going to Midnight Mass a few Christmases ago and sitting gob-smacked as the priest spent his sermon bashing the living daylights out of the Pope and the local cardinal and bishops. It was very instructive on the diversity within the Church.

Catholics for Ministry (CfM) are my kind of Catholics. In their leadership group is the former priest, Paul Collins, late of Radio National. His is an inspirational and brave leader who is also prone to unsolicited kindliness. Atheists should detest him. His sort is very dangerous for atheism. On the other hand, Cardinal Pell is an absolute blessing for godlessness and we should treasure him. Long may he reign.

Advertisement: Story continues below CfM often collaborates with a group known as Women and the Australian Church (WATAC). Both groups seem to be populated by progressive tolerant people. Even for this hard-core atheist, they are hard to dislike. CfM members are activists who believe:

There is a major crisis in ministry within the Australian Church;
There is no doctrinal barrier to the ordination of married men;
Discussion of the question of women’s ordination should be encouraged.
All of this stuff seems to be utterly obvious. It is the first point I wish to highlight although the question of ordination is critical to the crisis. Catholicism has only to alter their ordination rules, and some of the more reactionary sex and gender stuff, in order to return to the mainstream. Remember married priests were OK for the first 1000 years of Catholicism and only introduced with the Lateran Councils of the 12th century. However, Catholicism is strangely resistant to sensible suggestions that would make their faith appear sane and reasonable.

The CfM have just released a report that documents the level of atrophy in the Australian church. Written by Peter J. Wilkinson, a former missionary now married, it shows that notwithstanding the increase in numbers of Catholics to about 5.6 million there is an organisational disaster killing the Church:

One in four Australian parishes is without a full-time resident priest;
Very few new parishes are being established, despite a rapidly increasing Catholic population;
184 existing parishes have been merged since 1994, with more likely to follow;
The average age of priests actively ministering in parishes is 60 years and rising;
Only 600 local priests are likely to be available for parish ministry by 2025;
Just 13.8 per cent of Catholics regularly attended Mass in 2006 leading to deprivation of the Eucharist – this is a disaster for a sacramental church;
Fewer students from poorer and Catholic families are enrolled in Catholic schools
Since 1995 local home-grown priests have been few.
And so the situation is bleak. If the organisation was any deader Philip Nitchske and Jack Kervorkian would be lining up to euthanise it.

All of this seems obvious. The value add of the Wilkinson report is empirical rigour and the insight into the demise of the home-grown recruits to the priesthood and the rise of the imports.

There are two ways to solve the problem. The first is the CfM and WATAC method – just reform some of the more ludicrous rules on ordination. This would be more effective if the church could start the process of reform so that the creaking centralised Vatican has less of a deadening hand on local parishes and the sex and gender rules were less archaic.

The second option is to import priests from the Third World. Wilkinson documents this process. The imports could be a problem for the cultural differences might be fatal in Australian parishes. The Australian leadership seems to be particularly reticent to provide numbers on this importation.

The reform movements exemplified by CfM are the only hope for Catholicism. The Latin American Churches are similarly sclerotic. Brazil has one priest for every 10,000 believers and Mexico one for every 9700! The European Church is struggling. Only Africa and Asia show signs of success in the recruitment of priests.

What do the godless learn from all of this? Surely we should rejoice at the demise of the most visible and least modern of denominations? Surely we should celebrate the internal dissent and the bickering? Well, I am not so sure. This atheist would not welcome unhappiness in others and that is the result if the Church plunges off the edge. In fact it is the reactionaries like Pell who give atheism its steely edge. The reformers and evidence based policy nuts like Collins and Wilkinson are the real enemies of atheism for they represent the best that religions offer the world.

[klr]

Solid evidence of serious progress, I would say.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There must be something we can do! I know!

[maiforpeace]

A real commercial by Catholics dealing with this decline, followed by Bill Maher's spoof.

[Thinking Aloud]

[GoogleBot]

Good.

[affirmedatheist]

One thing that would at least slow down that decline would be if the church started to turn over the paedopriests to the authorities.

But that'll never happen.

[Bolero]

Solid evidence of serious progress, I would say.

This ^

TBH, it's not the catholics I'm worried about in Aus. It's the fundies. Most "Catholics" in this country are nominal - weddings, christenings, Xmas and Easter, at most. The fundies are the True Believers - much much scarier.

[Gallstones]

Whose Catholicism?

[JimC]

Whose Catholicism?

I mispelled the name of my own country! Now fixed!

Oh well, I am only a humble maths teacher...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Whose Catholicism?

I mispelled the name of my own country! Now fixed!

Oh well, I am only a humble maths teacher...

I thought that didn't add up.

[Gallstones]

Whose Catholicism?

I mispelled the name of my own country! Now fixed!

Oh well, I am only a humble maths teacher...

Now I'm going to look stupid.

[Gallstones]

Whose Catholicism?

I mispelled the name of my own country! Now fixed!

Oh well, I am only a humble maths teacher...

I thought that didn't add up.

It could have been correct, Catholicism may be on the decline in Australia and Austria both.
And maybe in Argentina and Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua, Armenia and Azerbaijan too.